Third Major Blue Ox Casualty
Yesterday on our first trip of 2014, our Blue Ox Aventa LX Towbar separated in heavy traffic on I-85 near Charlotte, NC. One leg of the towbar came completely loose with the stub end dragging on the concrete road surface.
We were 41 miles from our destination (Freightliner Service center in Gaffney, SC) bumper to bumper in 4 lanes of heavy traffic when a truck driver passing my on the right motioned that I had a problem. Glancing at my rear monitor, I could see that my Jeep Liberty was no longer in its normal center position but about 2’ to the right and being pulled by only one leg of the Blue Ox. I edged over two lanes of traffic and stopped on a broad shoulder. My Jeep was pressed up to the back of the MH.
Removed the destroyed tow bar, wrote a note, locked the car and drove to Freightliner. Retrieved the Jeep a few hours later after a $75 taxi ride.
The tow bar leg attached to the car about 16” long has threads on the end but dragging on the road surface heavily abraided the end. The rod either came un-screwed or what ever it was connected to broke. No damage to the MH.
This is our 11th season with our 2004 MH, about the 7th or 8th with this tow bar. We’ve towed this Jeep more than 80,000 miles with this system. I bought the Towbar on Ebay as a factory refurbished system. It was shipped to me directly from Blue Ox. The towbar is rated for 10,000 lbs, my MH receiver for 6000 lbs and my Jeep Liberty weighs 4000+. I use a Brake buddy auxiliary braking system.
In September 2011, the Blue Ox base plate totally pulled off the jeep while making a slow left hand turn at an intersection in Amarillo, TX. None of the four bolts were found but I suspect the correct locktite may not have been used, even though I was assured it was professionally installed IAW the Blue OX instructions. I sent the tow bar back to Blue Ox for refurbishment but it was returned stating it didn’t require refurbishment.
In September 2012, at a SMART National Muster, I had a Blue Ox representation check my base plate and service my towbar.
In March 2013 arriving at a military RV park in Alamagordo, NM, the entire base plate was ripped off from the Jeep while making a slow left hand turn inside the campground. One bolt was sheared off, two remained tightly bound but ripped a 4” square from the Jeep’s box frame. This time it was repaired with heavy steel backing bars, twice the number of much larger bolts and tack welded nuts.
I've reported both of these incidents to Blue Ox with photos but never received any response.
I’m an engineer and a pretty conservative driver, with one traffic ticket 20 years ago in 60 years of driving. Until I attended Camp Freightliner last year and learned 1700 rpm (61 mph) was the sweet spot for my engine, most of my 115k MH miles have been at 57-58 mph.
We’re headed for Arizona with multiple reservations and invites from friends so today I’m headed to the nearest Camping World (Spartanburg, SC) to select a new towbar and have my base plate checked.
Tell me what I’m doing wrong? What should I be doing differently? And remind me why after thousands of dollars in repair bills, I will probably choose another Blue Ox to attach to my beefed up base plate.
We were 41 miles from our destination (Freightliner Service center in Gaffney, SC) bumper to bumper in 4 lanes of heavy traffic when a truck driver passing my on the right motioned that I had a problem. Glancing at my rear monitor, I could see that my Jeep Liberty was no longer in its normal center position but about 2’ to the right and being pulled by only one leg of the Blue Ox. I edged over two lanes of traffic and stopped on a broad shoulder. My Jeep was pressed up to the back of the MH.
Removed the destroyed tow bar, wrote a note, locked the car and drove to Freightliner. Retrieved the Jeep a few hours later after a $75 taxi ride.
The tow bar leg attached to the car about 16” long has threads on the end but dragging on the road surface heavily abraided the end. The rod either came un-screwed or what ever it was connected to broke. No damage to the MH.
This is our 11th season with our 2004 MH, about the 7th or 8th with this tow bar. We’ve towed this Jeep more than 80,000 miles with this system. I bought the Towbar on Ebay as a factory refurbished system. It was shipped to me directly from Blue Ox. The towbar is rated for 10,000 lbs, my MH receiver for 6000 lbs and my Jeep Liberty weighs 4000+. I use a Brake buddy auxiliary braking system.
In September 2011, the Blue Ox base plate totally pulled off the jeep while making a slow left hand turn at an intersection in Amarillo, TX. None of the four bolts were found but I suspect the correct locktite may not have been used, even though I was assured it was professionally installed IAW the Blue OX instructions. I sent the tow bar back to Blue Ox for refurbishment but it was returned stating it didn’t require refurbishment.
In September 2012, at a SMART National Muster, I had a Blue Ox representation check my base plate and service my towbar.
In March 2013 arriving at a military RV park in Alamagordo, NM, the entire base plate was ripped off from the Jeep while making a slow left hand turn inside the campground. One bolt was sheared off, two remained tightly bound but ripped a 4” square from the Jeep’s box frame. This time it was repaired with heavy steel backing bars, twice the number of much larger bolts and tack welded nuts.
I've reported both of these incidents to Blue Ox with photos but never received any response.
I’m an engineer and a pretty conservative driver, with one traffic ticket 20 years ago in 60 years of driving. Until I attended Camp Freightliner last year and learned 1700 rpm (61 mph) was the sweet spot for my engine, most of my 115k MH miles have been at 57-58 mph.
We’re headed for Arizona with multiple reservations and invites from friends so today I’m headed to the nearest Camping World (Spartanburg, SC) to select a new towbar and have my base plate checked.
Tell me what I’m doing wrong? What should I be doing differently? And remind me why after thousands of dollars in repair bills, I will probably choose another Blue Ox to attach to my beefed up base plate.
